Do I Need To Get My Carpet Cleaned?

They say if you have a hammer, everything can look like a nail. And to that end, you could say that if you have a carpet cleaning machine, all carpet looks dirty. But if I’m being honest, I feel no need to pressure people to get their carpet cleaned. You will hear things like you’re supposed to get your carpets cleaned twice a year, but I’m here to tell you that for most people, that is unrealistic and unnecessary. At the same time, there are certain situations for residential and commercial customers that I think it is important that the carpet is cleaned at least once per year.

If you have pets, children, or live out in the country where you may be tracking in a lot of dirt and dust, then it very well may be necessary to get your carpets professionally cleaned at least once per year, every year. As I will often say, the end goal for getting your carpet cleaned should not always be about just making it look better. With pets and rural living, it is important to break up the soil that is embedded in your carpet fibers to help create a healthier, cleaner living environment.

Again, this is true even if your carpet doesn’t LOOK dirty. Sometimes the customer will say, “Yeah, I don’t think it was too bad,” only for us to get done, empty the waste tank, and find surprisingly dirty water (this actually happens quite a bit, to be honest). There’s a lot more soil hiding in your carpet than you may expect, and while do-it-yourself carpet cleaning machines can help break up surface stains, only professional carpet cleaning machines with their intense heat and pressure can get the dirt trapped deep in carpet fibers.

Similarly, commercial buildings may not even need their carpet cleaned twice a year. However, if you have an office building attached to a shop or warehouse, you should probably schedule at least one carpet cleaning each year to clear out the dust that’s being tracked in. Sometimes in these environments we can see a difference in the carpet without even using detergent. Just getting the build-up of dust off the carpet makes a difference, and that is also important for working conditions — no one wants to be breathing in dusty air!

Again, I’m not going to be the type to push people into a sale that I don’t think they need. At the same time, there are plenty of people who simply like to have their carpet cleaned at least once a year even when it’s not that dirty. Obviously, that’s fine as well! We will always do our best to meet our customers’ needs, so whether it’s a heavily soiled commercial carpet or a residential job that just wants freshened up, we will have the tools to help out. Give us a call at 330-427-0505 if you’re living in Columbiana or Mahoning counties and we’ll be happy to help you out.

Talk soon.

Josh Selway
Selway Cleaning

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How Long Will It Take Carpet To Dry After Being Cleaned?

One of the most common complaints we hear from customers when cleaning carpets is that other service providers did not dry their carpet thoroughly. Some even say that other carpet cleaning companies left their carpets “soggy,” which is unfathomable in our minds. Properly drying carpets is one of the most important aspects of any professional carpet cleaning companies. Not only can it be annoying to have wet carpet for hours on end, but in certain environments it can pose a safety risk.

When hiring Selway Cleaning to clean your carpet, you can expect your carpet to be dry within a few hours, typically 2-4 hours, if not faster. In fact, since we use fans to expedite the drying process, some areas are often completely dry by the time we finish the job. On all of our carpet cleaning jobs we will use at least one Dri-Pod fan to held dry our customers’ carpets. If it’s a larger job, especially a commercial carpet job, we will often bring additional fans, including larger air movers that will dry areas in a hurry.

Of course, drying times will always depends on the type of job and the style of carpet. Certain jobs will take longer than others. There are other factors to consider, such as ventilation and temperature. But for most cases, you can count on your carpet being dry within just a few hours after being professionally cleaned, if it’s done right. If it’s a high traffic area that we needed to go over multiple times, there is a chance it stays wet a little longer, but we guarantee that within just a few hours you won’t be able to feel any moisture.

Aside from our own fans and vacuum, you can help accelerate the dry time by opening windows to create air flow and/or turning on all available overhead fans. To schedule a carpet cleaning appointment with us, call 330-427-0505. We can give you a free quote ahead of the job. More coming soon.

-Josh

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Hard Work Not Slogans

Before deciding to come work for the family cleaning business, I covered the stock market for about eight years. During that time I learned a lot about how the corporate world, and businesses more generally, operate. For the most part, I thought there was a bunch of nonsense out there. Quote-unquote leaders who were clearly afraid to take risks, afraid to invest in the future and invest in their workers. 

Many modern companies are run by people who are not intimately involved in the day-to-day business. They’re more focused on developing marketing plans that lack substance than actually getting their hands dirty. There are some exceptions, and those companies stand out on every level. Their customers love them. Their workers enjoy working there. There’s something more there than just making money. There’s meaning. 

The last thing I want to do as I get started with Selway Cleaning is come up with some witty slogan and create a business structure where I pay others the lowest amount possible so I can vacation 10 weeks out of the year. I want to puke every time I hear some lame slogan now. I think most Americans on every level are, as Kendrick Lamar put it, “sick and tired of the photoshop. Show me something natural.” 

I knew coming into this that it was going to be a lot of hard work. It’s not always “fun” pulling out hoses to clean carpet when it’s 42 degrees and raining — shoutout Ohio. It’s not always fun cleaning an office building at 8 PM. But when you are dedicated to the hard work, not just looking to make a dollar, you can still find meaning in whatever you do. 

To be honest, I was not always that way. In fact, years ago I lost a commercial cleaning account when I worked for Selway Cleaning part time. I didn’t care enough and I was just going through the motions. That will never happen again. I have learned that it really doesn’t matter what you do in this life, it’s how you do it. And in the cleaning business, it oftentimes comes down to just caring more.

I am grateful for the opportunity to help a business behind my family name, and to all customers, current and future, I’m not just going to guarantee my best here in writing like every other company does; I’m going to show it. Our social media is going to show the work we actually did, not stock photos with stars and clip art. I’ll personally be involved in every account, not just simply sending out others to do the work for me.

As always: Don’t talk about it, be about it. See you out there.

– Josh

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